Last Friday, September 14 all students went to another boat trip, but this, in contradistinction to the previous ones, was used for fishing instead of sailing. So we could be real seamen for five hours, and after that, we notice how hard their work was. They didn’t have to much covered space for sleep or store food for the trip, so they need to hook if they wanted to eat.

Moreover, we were so lucky because the weather wasn’t really good at the beginning but then it improves so we had a windy but warm day. However, when they went for fish they could have rough climate, and in this ship shelter from the bad weather conditions was impossible, so they had to continue outside whatever the clime was. From my point of view this is really hard because I’m not used to the rain and storms during our sailing trips, but I’m sure that this makes the navegation more complicated.

We started our adventure taking a bus from the campus and then a taxi, where we met two students from Nicaragua who were going to join us during the whole excursion. They were so friendly and as some of us they were studying for became a teachers. It’s really interesting meet new people and exchange experiences with them, because when you learn things from anther culture, it gives you a different perspective from the reality, and how is for them their daily life. When we arrived at the small port the guide was waiting us and he explained a bit about the boat and what it was used for.

Fishing boat

As you can observe at the photo, it’s not a really big ship, and as I said before, it doesn’t have a huge covered space, so only 6 seamen could live in the boat during 3 or 4 months to go into the sea for fishing. Which is a hard work for them but also for their families, because my grandfather was a seaman and we couldn’t see him for a long periods of time, but we talked with him by radio, so I can imagine how hard this could be if they didn’t have the new technological advances.

At first, we tried to start the boat up by the traditional way, using the paddles and the sail because it was enough wind, so we work hard at the begining, and then the wind took us for a ride. It was all perfect, but suddenly when we had to park in the other port the guide notice that the engine didn’t work so we had to use our strong again! In that moment I was really happy because it was the first time that we manage a real situation on board. After that the guide called some navigation partners and with their help he could fix the technical problems.

During  some minutes I had the opportunity of steer the boat, using an old helm different from the typical ones, which we use to see at films or in new ships. This extra experience was the best point of the trip because I’ve never used the traditional sailing way in the previous excursions, for control the direction of the boat.

For the lunch time we went to a beautiful island, where we could explore a bit the surroundings, and during the walk we found a few people and even a flock of sheep. The views were amazing, differents from my hometown because we don’t have this amount of vegetation, but somehow I felt at home for a moment.  Without forgetting that one more time we could connect with the freedom of sailing and the awsome fresh air from the fjords.

Views from the island

Definitely I won’t have enough sailing excursions because I enjoy a lot all the time I spent at the sea. Nevertheless, I know that there are other interesting things to visit which are part of the Norwegian culture, like the Munch’s house, which is the next excursion, looking forward to tell you about it!

Marina